AWESOME Membership Site Idea

[Rachel Rofe]

Just saw this on a membership site I was trying to cancel and thought it was really cool.

The membership was $49 a month, and when you were a member, some of the perks were that you got website hosting (which I didn't use but I'm sure a lot do) and affiliate links (you could only be an affiliate if you were a member).

When I tried to cancel, I got the option to "park" my account for $10 a month and keep my affiliate links and hosting but not get any new content.

If you have a member's only affiliate program, that's a great way to get more revenue for people who have cancelled. You're not losing ANYTHING.

You can also use the "park" concept in other ways -

* Have a setup fee + a monthly payment, and then when people try to cancel, tell them they can "park" their membership so they don't have to pay the setup fee in case they choose to sign up again later

* Let people have access to certain features but not others (ie continued access to a convenient database but no more new content)

* Ask them why they want to cancel. If overwhelm is a reason, maybe have a "Cliff Notes" version of whatever your site is about for a lower price. You could offer the full content AND Cliff Notes to full members (most people love summaries anyway so it's totally something you should do), and then just the "Cliff Notes" to parked members who wouldn't find out about it until after they went to cancel anyway.

* I'm sure there are many other ways =)

[jodib]

Wow,

That's not something I have come across before and it sure does make one think.

Very interesting and can surely be built upon,like you mentioned,

Thanks for the post,

Regards,

[Joseph Then]

It's an improved idea of having different 'level' of membership. In this case, it's at the 'lowest' level of membership.

A good way to keep the members.

However, if you still experience the drop-out after implementing that, you might have to look at your offers.

[Andyhenry]

My Gym membership in the UK have this - I pay a smaller fee to keep my membership while I'm out of the country (most of the time), so that I don't have to pay cancellation/rejoining fees or a full fee while I'm traveling.

There are many ways to use the concept and for online businesses some of them are very natural.

[Rachel Rofe]

Ya, my gym does it too. It's quite freaking brilliant.

[Steven Fullman]

Membership Parking.

Parked Membership.

Membership On Hold.

I Wanna Join Now.

Great Concept, Rachel.

The dot coms are available for all of those phrases

Steve

[Robb43]

Great post never thought about that!